Beagles' UK income fund reopens with no initial fee

JO Hambro Capital Management has removed the 5% initial charge for new investors on its UK Equity Income fund run by Clive Beagles and James Lowen, in a move that will see the vehicle reopen.

The £930 million fund was soft-closed in February last year after surpassing £750 million in assets, a cap which was established at the fund's inception in 2004 to ensure liquidity could be preserved.

However, JOHCM has decided to reopen the popular vehicle and has removed the 5% initial charge to encourage new investor money.  The move comes at a time when fund flows are subdued due to the volatility in equity markets.

Philip Lund, investment communications manager at JOHCM, said: ‘It’s a tough environment for equities. Plus, the fund has a dividend going out at the end of the month, of around £50 million. There are also natural outflows with asset allocation… so there is a need for inflows to up the fund.’

He added that Beagles and Lowen have been keeping an eye on liquidity and have been able to manage the fund with assets nearly reaching £1 billion.

The fund returned 58.57% over three years to the end of December compared with the FTSE All Share Total Return index’s 43.85%.